Fanboys are natural born suckers for crossovers. It's a natural tendency for those who practically WORSHIP something to not only viciously defend their aforementioned object of their desire as a matter of honor, but to also take it a step further by provoking differing fanboys that their worshiped entity can kick the other entity's ass. Think of it as overtly nerdy Crusaders fighting over sand in a sandbox: you might win ground, but the ground is still worthless. What is even more absurd is that nerd culture enjoys pitting polar opposites of a similar genre against one another for the sake of establishing a definitive outcome: for instance, Dracula's cunning and supernatural demonic powers versus the Frankenstein Monster's brute strength; Freddy's intelligence and black humor versus Jason's hack-and-slash hyper-violent bloodlust and invincibility; and King Kong's grunting and ability to climb New York sky scrapers versus Godzilla's radioactive breath and magic ability to turn Japanese people's speech to English without affecting the movement of their mouths. Another fine example is Star Wars, a series that (once) delved into religious overtones and mysticism (ie The Force) set to a space epic, versus Star Trek, a more atheist space legacy that washes its hands with all God or religion in favor for omnipotent beings with a mischievous sense of humor from the Q Continuum.
People love to play "My Daddy can beat up Your Daddy", and Sherlock Holmes and H.P. Lovecraft fans are apparently no exception to this rule. However, unlike the previous examples to the "Versus Rule" above where Godzilla and King Kong are natural fits, the adventures penned by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the horrors dreamt by Howard Phillips Lovecraft go together like 2% milk and Clorox bleach.
Let me explain.
The works of both Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and H.P. Lovecraft should be held in mutual respect because of their contributions to literature. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's tales of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson were revolutionary to the mystery detective genre thanks in part to Doyle pairing Sherlock's the powers of deduction with pathology to solve seemingly unsolvable crimes. While being far more obscure than the legendary Sherlock Holmes, Howard Phillips Lovecraft's impact on the literary world was no less important as he was one of the pioneers of cosmic horror. H.P. Lovecraft's mythos of a pantheon of unearthly horrors have influenced legions of today's most popular writers, artists, and film makers, such as Neil Gaiman, Guillermo Del Toro, and Stephen King. What largely separates Doyle and Lovecraft's work is not only the logical versus the insane and cosmic, but the levels of detail, analysis and conclusiveness in the Sherlock Holmes stories, whereas a majority of the often vague and indescribable horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos was found in the reader filling in some of the blanks with their own imagination.
You see, the laws of the Sherlock Holmes and Cthulhu worlds dictate that the deductive reasoning and finite conclusiveness of Sherlock Holmes CANNOT exist in a heavily Lovecraftian tale because much of the horrors are otherworldly and unexplainable, and, in fact, the lead characters' attempts to rationalize what they witness or discover is often what drives them completely insane.
To put it mathematically:
Something like this...
So, logically the entire crossover was conjured when a Sherlock Holmes fan argued that there was no mystery that the famed cocaine-dabbling detective couldn't solve, which prompted an eaves-dropping follower of the demon-fish worshiping Cthulhu Mythos to spring into action by exclaiming that a Lovecraftian mystery would render the world's favorite detective drooling in a padded room while his best friend, Doctor Watson, could only prescribe more anti-psychotic drugs to his dear destroyed detective.
However, laws are meant to be broken and challenges are meant to be accepted.
Challenge Accepted
As a casual fan of Sherlock Holmes mysteries and an avid fan of H.P. Lovecraft, I've only been aware of one instance of a relatively successful H.P. Lovecraft and Sherlock Holmes crossover, and that was Neil Gaiman's short story, "A Study in Emerald" in which the Lovecraftian horrors have taken over the world and enslaved humanity by the 1800's, but one of the "Royal children" had been slain and our favorite detective has been assigned the case (maybe). It was a short story and a colorful, if outlandish, romp, but the two worlds still felt at odds with one another.
Thankfully, the geniuses at Frogwares managed to seamlessly merge the worlds of Sherlock Holmes and The Call of Cthulhu in their game: "Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened".
Story
The story takes place well after the "death" of Sherlock Holmes in the tale "The Adventure of the Final Problem" where Holmes and Moriarty fought over the Reichenbach Falls and both were presumed dead until his resurfacing in Doyle's later story, "The Adventure of the Empty House". Doctor Watson, faithful companion to the world-renowned super-sleuth, Sherlock Holmes, stirs in his bed from a terrifying nightmare conjured after the end of their latest adventure. Visions of horrific stone deities and the words of madmen echo in his mind, as does his own voice, begging Sherlock Holmes to save him. As Watson awakes from his dreams (or more aptly 'memories') he ponders how the whole story began.
Flashing back to September 6, 1894, the very beginning of the duo's chance encounter with the maddening case, Watson greets the glum and depressed Sherlock Holmes in his Baker Street home. Holmes gazes out the windows at a foggy London morning, wishing that there was some break in the mundane and tedium due to the lack of audacity and romanticism in the criminal world. Watson tries to cheer up his longtime friend, but must take his leave to a client, Captain Stenwick, who is in a state of near tachycardia due to an incident with his manservant. Upon further investigation, Holmes uncovers that Captain Stenwick's manservant had not only disappeared, but was abducted for reasons unknown.
The clues lead Sherlock and Watson to the docks of the Thames river, where they discover that Stenwick's manservant isn't the only person who has disappeared under suspicious circumstances. Further investigation leads Sherlock and Watson to a makeshift temple under an abandoned warehouse where a brutal human sacrifice had been held at the feet of a disturbing stone effigy of a dragon-like creature with bat wings and the head of an octopus (Cthulhu). With Sherlock Holmes reveling in his new-found obsession, he and Watson scower the globe for clues to not only find the reason for the disappearing people, but to find out what this dark cult is intending and who's ultimately behind it. Danger and madness are around every corner as their adventure takes them from the streets of London, to a mental asylum in Sweden, to the swamps of New Orleans as they uncover the global plot by the deadly and deranged Cult of Cthulhu.
Ia! Ia! Cthulhu!
As I mentioned earlier, the universes of Sherlock Holmes and the Cthulhu Mythos do not mix well due to their obviously different storytelling methods; however, rather than directly injecting nightmare creatures from the lore of H.P. Lovecraft like in Neil Gaimen's "A Study in Emerald", what Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened did was an obvious stroke of genius by almost seamlessly weaving Sherlock Holmes' mystery solving persona with H.P. Lovecraft's most infamous mystery/horror, "The Call of Cthulhu".
For those of you who don't read up on Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu is a short mystery story involving a man who, after inheriting his granduncle's possessions, stumbles upon his work investigating a world-wide and ancient doomsday cult. This ancient, widespread, and vicious cult worships an immortal and powerful creature known as Cthulhu, who inhabited earth eons before man but now sleeps under the sea, and whose awakening would spell the extinction of mankind. As Cthulhu stirs and dreams, the psychically sensitive worldwide begin having nightmares about an ancient city and otherworldly creatures (hence the ominous title "The Call of Cthulhu"). Anyways, in the story, the main character becomes obsessed with traveling the world and piecing together disassociated information and comparing it to the data collected by his granduncle until the main character, upon making an ultimate and chilling discovery, begins to fear for his own life for 'knowing too much' about the cult and the truth of Cthulhu's existence.
In the context of the game, this photo isn't nearly as "un-PC" as you might think.
What makes The Call of Cthulhu the ideal story for a Sherlock Holmes adventure is that, at it's core, it's Sherlock Holmes replacing and expanding on the investigations of The Call of Cthulhu story. Up until the 'revealing' ending of The Call of Cthulhu, Lovecraft made a genuinely intriguing mystery/horror story that, compared to his other more 'cosmic' works, is far more plausible and reality based. Rather than having demonic creatures and fishmen driving characters insane, the antagonists of The Call of Cthulhu are religious fanatics worshiping an entity that may or may not exist; not a far cry from modern day cultism and even mainstream religions. Because The Call of Cthulhu is a mystery-themed horror story, it's easy to insert Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson into that particular universe of evil cultist activities.
Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened also gently skirts that fine line between the two universes, giving players ample Sherlock Holmes sloothing and rationality with just enough of the atmosphere of the Cthulhu Mythos to maintain its horrific presence without becoming too blatant or farfetched. There's no ancient evils crawling out of shadows or dreamscapes, there's no parallel dimensions or lost cities to visit, and there's no ancient gods or beings from other planets to encounter; there's only an infectious madness of human beings... and the underlying potential that there COULD be something watching in the darkness. It's the best of both worlds.
The first sacrifice Sherlock and Watson come across: A mutilated corpse stuffed with live eels that reinact the iconic scene from the movie "Alien".
Gameplay
Like the other Sherlock Holmes games by Frogwares, Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened is a 3D point and click adventure/mystery; however, the presentation depends on which version of The Awakened you are playing: Standard or the Remastered Edition. The Standard Edition of The Awakened is presented in a 3D first person perspective, which puts you directly into the shoes of Sherlock Holmes as you explore a virtual London, New Orleans, or Swiss Mental Asylum. In the Remastered Edition, the addition of a third-person perspective is available, conforming with the style and perspective of the majority of Frogware's other Sherlock Holmes titles.
The gameplay itself is a point and click adventure, and any other genre of gameplay in a Sherlock Holmes game would be nothing short of criminal. There's a decent sized world that you can explore and discover clues and interact with non-player characters (NPCs) in your quest for clues. You can travel to select areas (docks, Baker Street, Library, etc) within the specific geographies that you're frequenting (London, New Orleans, etc). It's obvious that when you're in New Orleans, you can just open up a world map and jump to London and back on a whim, but it's impossible due to the fact that you must obtain specific items or clues prior to advancing to new geographies. Books, newspaper clippings, written word-for-word transcriptions of what suspects and NPC's tell you: You collect all of them for use as references and resources later in the game, and you'll likely find yourself skimming those very articles and recounts to solve the puzzles that prevent you from progressing further in the game. However, the puzzles are pretty challenging, even for a Sherlock Holmes game. For instance:
You're in New Orleans and on the blood trail of a man who's been brutally abducted by members of the Cult of Cthulhu, however there's an extremely thick swam of mosquitoes that make it impossible for Sherlock or Watson to venture to the shore to collect more clues. However, earlier in the kidnapped man's mansion, there's various books regarding New Orleans biology and botany that you must pick up. On the man's balcony there's also a lemon tree, and you have to grab a lemon. At a specific point in the game, you must read the books to discover that lemon juice is a natural mosquito repellant, and you use the lemon that you picked earlier to rub on yourself in order to pass through the mosquito swarm unbitten.
Needless to say, you'll be frequently looking up online walkthroughs for lists of specific actions and items that you must undertake or use. Adding another layer of complexity is the fact that item creation is a lot more complex than, say, Sam and Max or Tales of Monkey Island games where only two items can be combined at a time. In Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened, it's not uncommon to have to piece together around THREE correct items to advance, making the "trial and error" approach more arduous. Luckily, the clues are still relatively straight forward and logical compared to Sam and Max games. HOWEVER, My only complaint is that despite being more logical than some Take-Two PAC games, I found the game a bit difficult at times due to the game's relative inflexibility to accomplish some objectives out of order.
Speaking of clues, where would Sherlock Holmes be without his trademark magnifying glass? In "Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened" you're required during several moments over the course of the game to examine areas for clues with your magnifying glass. Often you're examining shoe prints for clues towards your next location, but some of the examined "items" often turn much more grizzly due to their disturbing cultist and human-sacrificial natures.
Despite the picture of Doctor Watson shooting a cult member (second picture up from here) there is very little action in Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened. After all this isn't a first person shooter, but a strangely addictive point and click puzzle game, so the majority of the action comes from cut scenes. You are, however, treated to a thrilling chase scene when Sherlock Holmes's items are stolen in New Orleans, in which you pursue your thief through the streets, buildings, and rooftops of New Orleans. Regardless, what the game does provide is an eerie atmosphere with exotic locations and horrifying imagery of human sacrifices, human experiments, and insane characters who foretell the coming of a great evil, neither benevolent nor malevolent towards humanity, but entirely indifferent, who will consume the world, and will literally consume the people on it.
Graphics
The graphic quality largely depends on which version of the game you're playing: the Original or the Remastered Edition; however, regardless of which edition you pick, neither games were heralded as technological/graphical leaps during their respective years of release. The original edition was released in 2006, though for some reason I remember playing it in 2005... but anyways, compared to other games released AROUND 2006, the graphics were below par. A more unfair comparison would be to compare the 2004 hit Half-Life 2 to this 2006 release, in which Half-Life 2 takes the cake. The graphics of Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened were pretty bland in places, there was no lighting effects, and the character models were pretty stiff for even 2006 standards. The Remastered Edition, released in 2008, improved a lot of the textures in the game, giving them higher definition, as well as added lighting effects which really made the lantern-lit scenes within the Black Edelweiss Mental Asylum really shine. However, character animations remained stiff and awkward in many places, though most notably during scenes with jumping and preaching Cult of Cthulhu members. But even the animations of Doctor Watson and Sherlock Holmes running in the cut scenes looks extremely outdated.
The locations are stunning and intricate. For instance, after a few minutes of wandering aimlessly in the city of New Orleans, you'll notice that almost no two sections look exactly alike, and the city comes alive when you witness the contrast between the wealthier side of town to the more backwater and poorer sections. The poorer sections have saloons and fishermen shacks, while more upscale sections of town have almost picturesque houses and landscaping. The plantation/manor that you investigate in New Orleans has a Southern aristocratic charm all its own, while the swamps that you investigate are littered with mossy, skeletal trees and are swarming with alligators. You see stray dogs wandering the streets, there's colorfully tattered decorations hanging from ropes, NPC winos sleep on tables outside of the water-damaged saloon, men are mopping on the deck of a steamboat, and whores are peering out and flirting of the windows of the "Louisiana Nymph" whorehouse (it's hard to miss). While the streets of these historically busy cities are practically barren of civilians, they're far from lifeless.
Sherlock: ".... Helloooooooooo??"
Most impressively, no two geographies (London, the Swiss Asylum, New Orleans, etc) look alike. Victorian London is largely grey and misty, and the ports, docks and the pubs of the city are genuinely grim, filthy, and threatening. The look of the Swiss Asylum, the Black Edelweiss, varies from 1800's mental hospital to a dark and horrific dungeon, complete with a well where certain shady doctors have disposed of human bodies. Each area has it's own look, feel and sounds which weaves a stunning and engrossing atmosphere.
And the most phenomenal graphical achievement in Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened? The water. The reflective, rippling water effects are easily the most realistic I've seen in any game.
Sound
The game REEKS of ambiance. Crickets chirp in the Louisiana swamps, madmen shriek in the Black Edelweiss Mental Asylum, horse hooves clop along the cobblestone streets of Victorian London, and it goes on and on. Whether the developers wanted to take a 'realistic' experience is anybody's guess, but you'll find yourself pausing often just to listen to the virtual world around you.
The voice acting, while often excellent, does have a few 'quirks'. Just talk to the 10 year old cockney newspaper boy who sounds like a 26 year old man. No joke. The cultists also ham it up at times, though they still come across as genuinely creepy so mission accomplished? But regardless of a few problems, the rest of the voice acting is nearly pitch perfect. The inhabitants of each geographic location has the accents of the land: New Orleans residents speak with a Southern American drawl, the Swiss doctors and some of the patients have a Dutch accent, and, most importantly, the British sound British. Not once are you introduced to a lush, ethnic geographic location and have an inappropriate accent among any of its inhabitants. The swamp people of New Orleans don't speak with a British, French or even a Northern US accent, they speak with their synonymous thick accents. The Southern Accents are even split among the inhabitants, giving the wealthier inhabitants much more romanticized Southern "Gentlemen" accents, where the fishermen have a backwater bayou tongue, and even the African inhabitants have a touch of the 1800's stereotypical "Song of the South" flavor of the Southern accent. The voice acting is phenomenal for such a small, indie developer as Frogwares.
The majority of the time you'll be listening to Doctor Watson and Sherlock Holmes during the duration of your adventure, and of the two I'm most impressed by the voice actor for Doctor Watson over Sherlock Holmes. Despite both voice actors SOUNDING good, there's some pacing issues that bother me with Sherlock. For instance, towards the end when Sherlock falls into a pit he's literally thinking so fast that his mouth can't seem to catch up:
Paraphrasing here: "Watson I've fallen into a hole can you please throw down your pistol on second thought it might get damaged by the fall so I'll try to find a way out through the cave system I've discovered see you on the other side."
At times, Sherlock Holmes talks more like a machine than a man, and it just sounds off. Now, I do realize that in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's books, Sherlock Holmes does have "quirks" and eccentricities, which some have debated to be Asperger's syndrome, (intense attention to details, lack of interest in interpersonal relationships and tendency to speak in long monologues) so whether or not the developers were trying to draw attention to some of Holmes's more erratic and unconventional mannerisms in his dialogue is anybody's guess, but I'm just saying that it does sound "off" and often mechanical.
The music in Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened is equally as fitting to the geographical locations as the voice acting and the sound effects/ambiance, however there is little use of it during gameplay. While you're investigating and roaming the streets you'll hear mostly the ambient sound effects, which I'm guessing is implemented to give the game a more realistic feel, rather than cinematic. While you're roaming a local bookstore, you'll hear the ticking of a clock instead of the stereotypical Victorian violin or piano music that you'd normally expect to hear. However, when you walk past the Louisiana Nymph you'll hear piano saloon music synonymous with American Western movies. It seems as though the game is nearly devoid of music until there's opportunity to ENHANCE a situation, whether it's the energetic southern fiddle music utilized while you chase a thief through New Orleans, or classical violin music in the introduction cinematic introducing us to Sherlock Holmes, or if it's the eerie drumming you hear when you confront the Cult of Cthulhu in the Louisiana marshes.
OVERALL
While the graphics of Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened are technically sub par with today's standards, the game still boasts some of the most vivid and distinct locations of any game I've ever seen. However, the character animations still leave something to be desired. The sound is absolutely AMAZING thanks to its appropriate use of music, quality ambiance, and overall excellent voice acting. As far as challenging mystery-solving gameplay, Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened is top notch, though I've often questioned the inflexibility regarding the order of clue gathering, which can border on frustrating.
The only two things that are keeping me from trying the other games from Frogwares is A) Lack of Lovecraft and B) I rack my brains on point-and-click adventures and I'll spend hours wandering aimlessly for a clue. In fact, that's why I put the game down back in 2006 and didn't pick up the Remastered Edition until recently.
And I'm glad I did, because I almost missed a pivotal tale in both the Sherlock Holmes and Lovecraftian universes. Ultimately, the storytelling incorporates the very best of Sherlock Holmes and Lovecraftian elements and manages to weave a captivating horror/mystery that should appease even the most hard-nosed of Sherlock Holmes and Lovecraft fans. The Awakened is a game that neither Sherlock Holmes or H.P. Lovecraft fans should miss.
3rd Annual H.P. Lovecraft Holiday Special (2011)
2nd Annual H.P. Lovecraft Holiday Special (2010)
1st Annual H.P. Lovecraft Holiday Special (2009)
